RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

22. Gupta, H. C. and Nandyala, V., An ayurvedic formulation (Hepax)

in treatment of anaemia. Indian Pract., 1984, 37, 781.
23. Hussain, A. et al., Dictionary of Indian Medicinal Plants, CIMAP,
Lucknow, 1992.
24. HP Forest Statistics, Forest Department Himachal Pradesh, 2000.
25. Edwards, D. M. and Bowen, M. R., Focus on Jaributi. FRSC occasional paper 2/93. Forest Research and Survey Centre, Kathmandu,
1993, p 26.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank the Director, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur for facilities and encouragement. Faculty and staff members of IHBT herbarium are
thanked for guidance and fruitful discussions. The State Forest Department, Himachal Pradesh is acknowledged for help and support. Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi is thanked for financial support. We
acknowledge the constructive comments by two anonymous reviewers
which helped in improving the manuscript. This is IHBT communication number 540.
Received 3 November 2005; revised accepted 29 June 2006

Evidence of ancient sea surges at the

Mamallapuram coast of India and
implications for previous Indian Ocean
tsunami events
C. P. Rajendran1,*, Kusala Rajendran1,
Terry Machado1, T. Satyamurthy2,
P. Aravazhi2 and Manoj Jaiswal3
1

Centre for Earth Science Studies, Akkulam,

Thiruvananthapuram 695 031, India
2
Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai Circle, Chennai 600 009, India
3
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun 248 001, India

The Indian Ocean may have a geologic history of tsunami

events similar in size and source area comparable to
that of the 26 December 2004 event. Searching for
geological evidence for previous tsunamis in the nearsource region is one way to constrain previous occurrence of such events. Since the 2004 tsunami proved
devastating even far from its source, evidence for
predecessors can be sought in remote locations, including the east and southwest coasts of India. Here we
report observations from two trenches in the Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) beach, 55 km south of Chennai
(Madras) on the east coast of India, an area also
affected by the 2004 tsunami. We discuss the possibility
that the sections in question may contain evidence to
suggest two pre-2004 tsunami events occurring ~ 1000
years and ~ 1500 years ago respectively.
Keywords: Geological evidence, Indian Ocean, Mamallapuram, tsunami.
*For correspondence. (e-mail: rajendran_cp@yahoo.com)
1242

THE great tsunami of 26 December 2004 affected most parts

of the east coast of India (Figure 1). Thousands of people
living in the coastal regions of the Indian Ocean fell victims to this unprecedented event. Although smaller tsunami
events have been registered in the past, events comparable
to that of 2004 have not been documented. Telltale evidence
for such occurrences provides constraints on the regional
tsunami history, an important input for future hazard
evaluation. We believe that with a rich cultural heritage,
some of the ancient settlements along the east coast of
India may prove to be potential sites for preservation of
such evidence of destruction. We made a preliminary search
at Mamallapuram, an important port built under the Pallava kings about 10001300 years ago (see Keay1) for
historical details on the AD 49 century Pallava dynasty,
which ruled parts of the present-day State of Tamil Nadu
and its neighbouring areas). There are two important reasons that motivated us to begin investigations here. One,
the 2004 tsunami, surging as much as 36 m above datum,
stripped beaches and created circular depressions along
the Mamallapuram coast, now filled with tidal water (see
also Chadha et al.2). We suspect that the events in the past
could have affected the coast in a similar fashion. Two,
scouring along the beach exposed buried rock sculptures
and temple basements that prompted the Archeological
Survey of India (ASI) to excavate these sites, exposing
multiple occupational levels. This gave an opportunity to
examine the deep trenches (~ 4 m) that were also expected
to provide reliable chronological constraints of the event
horizons.
Early navigators refer to Mamallapuram as a town of
the seven pagodas (turrets of the Hindu temples). Many
scholars believe that the sea had encroached on these
temples in the past; the only surviving structure is the
Shore Temple (a world heritage site) that escaped the
2004 tsunami because it stands behind a shore protection
wall. Further, this temple built on hard rock, would have
resisted the scouring action by the tsunami at the foundation
level, which probably explains its long-term stability. The
other temples are completely submerged today, but their
top parts were visible until a few centuries ago3. If this is
caused by rise in sea level relative to land, coastal retreat
may explain the references in the ancient South Indian
texts about episodes of great flooding4. Chambers3, an early
British explorer, attributed the submergence to overflowing
sea, which he suspected was caused by an earthquake.
Positive evidence for coastal retreat was recently found
through underwater exploration on the northeastern side
of the Shore Temple, about 600 m from the present coast.
The exploration revealed remains of huge stone constructions, dating to 8th century AD, at 615 m below the present
sea level5. Considering an average erosion of 55 cm/yr,
the shoreline 1500 years ago must have been about 800 m
seaward of the present coast6. It is therefore reasonable to
believe that structures now offshore must have been onshore
~ 1000 years ago5.
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Subsequent to the 2004 tsunami, ASI conducted excavations at two sites in Mamallapuram. At one of these
sites, about 300 m south of the Shore Temple, basement
of a stone temple from the late Pallava period (8th century
AD) was uncovered. The other scoured site is at Saluvankuppam, about 1.5 km north of the Shore Temple and
about 150 m from the sea (Figure 2, bottom panel). Excavations at this site revealed multiple cultural settlements with
clear-cut working levels and associated sedimentary horizons (Figure 3 a and b); some of which are discussed here.
The ASI site at Saluvankuppam (referred here as trench
1 or T1) exposed a brick basement, overlain by remains
of stonewalls and fallen granite pillars (Figure 2). From
the varying styles, type of materials and the nature of artifacts, three phases of construction are evident. The
youngest structure (Phase III), built in granite belongs to the
late Pallava period (8th9th century AD) and its base is
about 2 m below the present ground surface. Phase II (6
8 century AD) is represented by an underlying brick basement. A much older level of construction using an earlier
genre of bricks exists at a depth of about 3.2 m below the
present ground level. Only a part of this structure (early
4th century AD; Phase I) has been exposed at present on
the eastern side of the trench (Figures 2, 3 a and c).
Stratigraphy of the eastern and southern walls consists
of several layers of sand, mixed with brick debris, shells
and pottery shards. Human modification and levelling of the
ground is evident at various levels on the eastern (seaward) side (Figure 3 a and b). We noted three layers of
highly compacted sand, consisting of brick debris, plaster,
shell remains and calcretes at various depths (L1, L2 and

Figure 1. Map showing areas along the east and southwest coast of
India affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami. Star shows location
of the 2004 megathrust earthquake (after Stein and Okal18).
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 91, NO. 9, 10 NOVEMBER 2006

L3 in Figure 3 a and b). Corresponding to various phases

of construction, they probably represent working levels
for each settlement. These layers may have been compacted
to level and stabilize the ground. Since such layers are
seen only on the eastern side of the trench, protection from
the sea appears to be a major motivation. It appears that
each of these three settlements was destroyed and that the
succeeding generations used the ruins as new basements.
We noted two anomalous layers of sand, the younger
one marked as S1, occurring within the latest settlement
layer, and the older one marked as S2, occurring above the
oldest phase of construction. Both these layers occur as
discontinuous patches of varying thickness and their
laminated structure, with embedded pieces of bricks, suggests deposition under turbulent conditions. The younger
layer, S1 shows a maximum thickness of 1014 cm on
the southern wall of the trench, tapering gradually on the
eastern wall. A thinner version of this layer (12 cm) was
also seen on the northern wall, with a faint extension to
the eastern wall. We observed fine flow structures with
laminations and grading within this layer. Restricted spatial
extent of the sand and its prominence on the seaward side
suggest possible wave action. The maximum thickness,
14 cm, was observed close to a 4 m-tall granite outcrop
that marks the southern limit of the trench (Figure 2).
Perhaps, this tall rock must have caused deflection of the
waves, leading to more scouring and also providing a
sheltered depositional niche for the retreating water.

Figure 2. (Top panel) Excavation site (trench 1, T1) at Saluvankuppam. The top of the structure is ~ 2 m below the present ground level of
sand dune. (Bottom panel) Elevation profile of the area showing location of the site.
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Figure 3. a, View of the eastern and southern walls of the ASI trench (T1) showing working levels of settlements L1, L2 and L3 and
suspected tsunami layers (S1 and S2). b, Details of structures observed on the southern wall; S1 occurs within the brick debris and S2,
above a compacted layer of sand. Flow structures are observed within S1 and S2. Patches of fine granite chips are noted only in the top
layer of debris, presumably a fill made subsequent to flooding. Bricks belonging to Phase 1 are noted on the bottom of the eastern wall. c,
View of the eastern wall of the trench (trench 2, T2) that bottomed on the phase I brick construction, exposing the anomalous sand layer.
(Inset) close-up of the layer showing flow structures and clasts.

Could an unusual sea surge account for repeated destruction of the ancient structures here and also explain the
1244

unusual layers of fine sand described above? Destruction

of the granite temple probably post-dates AD 851 the
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 91, NO. 9, 10 NOVEMBER 2006

RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
approximate age of the inscriptions (an earlier form of
Tamil) on the fallen stone pillars (according to ASI sources).
Since all the granite pillars lie to the west side of the
temple complex, it is possible that they may have been
destroyed by sea surges from the eastern side. The 2004
tsunami inundation data2 imply that a previous tsunami of
similar size could have reached 800 m inland and damaged
many of the man-made, near-sea structures of weak foundations located on a previously extended coast. That the
2004 tsunami exposed the older temple sites along the
Mamallapuram beach implies that a similar size tsunami
in the past could have scoured the temple foundations.
Like the one at Saluvankuppam, temples built on the sand
are more vulnerable to the souring action of the tsunami than
those built on rock outcrops.
After the inferred sea surge and selective scouring,
more brick debris was probably dumped as a means of
protection. Some portions of the topmost layer of debris
consist of granite chips, which are totally absent from the
lower levels. This change in the content of debris is noteworthy because, as mentioned earlier, granite became a
choice of construction (by the Pallavas) only after the 6th
century and Pallava temples made of granite at Mamallapuram are dated1 to 8th century AD. Thus, it appears
that the original brick fill was reinforced after the sea surge
and only these portions, notably those above the suspected tsunami deposit, contain granite fragments. Charcoal pieces obtained from the sand layer (S1) provided an
age of 955 30 BP (AD 10191161), and probably postdate the construction of the Stone Temple. The flooding
event may have occurred between the inscriptional age of
AD 851 (minimum age) and the calibrated charcoal date
of AD 1161 (Table 1). It is interesting that the suspected
tsunami deposit from this trench yielded fragments of
oceanic diatom species like Navicula and Coscinodiscus
(Prema Paul, University of Madras, pers. commun.).
At deeper levels, we logged another layer of fine-grained
sand (10 cm), possibly of marine origin at a depth of 3.0 m
from the surface (S2 in Figure 3 a and b). This discontinuous layer of sand occurs above the ruins of the oldest
brick structure (Phase I) and as in the case of S1, this is
also prominent on the southern wall, with a slimmer eastward
extension. We presume that the presence of granite outcrop
may have provided favourable conditions for the selective
deposition of this layer as well.
Ten metres south of T1, a separate trench revealed another
discordant layer of sand, presumably of marine origin and
a possible extension of S2. This 2.5 m-deep trench (referred as trench 2 or T2) bottomed on the extension of the
oldest brick structure observed in the ASI site (Figure 3 c).
A layer of sand, with maximum thickness of 10 cm was
exposed in the southeastern corner of the trench. This
layer marked by fining upward sequence contains clasts
from the underlying layer; it also shows laminations suggesting deposition controlled by the flow of water79. Its
occurrence at a cultural level suggests that it was deposited
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 91, NO. 9, 10 NOVEMBER 2006

by an unusual sea surge in an area that is otherwise protected from wave action. However, in this trench (T2) we
did not observe the extension of the younger sand layer (S1)
present in T1. Perhaps, this deposit was preserved selectively and is specific to that site as it was trapped within
the debris. It is also possible that this layer was eroded
subsequently. As shown in Table 1, we obtained two sets
of radiocarbon ages to constrain the time of deposition of
the lower layer of sand from T1 and T2 (Figure 3 a and c and
Table 1). Charcoal samples yielded ages of 1674 30 yrs
BP (AD 321427) and 1581 35 yrs BP (AD 405564).
However, it should be mentioned here that our experiments to obtain infrared stimulated luminescence ages of
the tsunami sand did not yield ages commensurable with
the radiocarbon ages. The infrared stimulated luminescence
SAR analyses of the feldspar grains from the suspected
younger and older tsunami sand layers yielded only
361 75 years and 566 120 yrs, respectively. The analysis
were carried out on a Riscoe TL/OSL-12 system using infra
red LED emitting 800 80 nm wavelength light on the
feldspar grains due to very low sensitivity of the quartz
separates. One of the reasons for this discrepancy between the radiocarbon and optical-stimulated luminescence
ages could be the anomalous fading generally associated
with the feldspar grains. We prefer the radiocarbon dates
because they are supported by archaeological constraints.
The deposits inferred to have been associated with past
sea surges from both the trenches contained significant
quantity of foraminifera such as Ammonia dantata (S.
Sreenivasalu, Anna University, pers. commun.). This particular species habituates only at depths varying between
40 and 50 m in moderately quiet environment and is also
present in the recent (24 December 2004) tsunami deposit
from the Nagappattinam coast10. Probability for storm waves
to churn the sea floor at such depth is much less because
the maximum storm-related wave height (Hm) for the east
coast is 6 m (NIO, 1998). Waves of this height can cause
only sediment traction at sea-bottom depths shallower than
20 m. Therefore, A. dantata found in the samples are
unlikely to have been brought by storm waves.
Although the long-term sea-level rise has been viewed
as the main cause of submergence and destruction of temples
along the Mamallapuram coast about 1000 years ago5, the
2004 event provokes us to explore alternate explanations.
It is tempting to consider if an event similar to that of
December 2004 could have contributed to the destruction
of these structures. Did massive, short-lived coastal inunTable 1.

Radiocarbon ages from Saluvankuppam, Mamallapuram

Sample ID*

Radiocarbon age
(yrs BP)

MB/AR/UL
MB/AR/BL
MB/T1/BL

955 30
1674 30
1581 35

Calendric years
(2 interval)
10191161
321427
AD 405564

AD

AD

*Charcoal.
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dations in the historical past strike a body blow to the
coastal community that existed those days? The Mamallapuram coast has generally been sheltered from the regions large cyclones11, although occasional storm surges
had indeed occurred in the area (e.g. 2 m storm surge was
registered in October 1994). Thus could a storm-related
episode be considered as an equally possible cause to explain the destruction of these structures? This is an important question that needs to be resolved.
The deposits exposed at Saluvankuppam occur in an
area that is far from the tsunami sources in the Indian
Ocean. The far-source tsunami deposits offer many classificatory challenges unlike the near-source deposits. In
the near-source locales, overprinting of tectonic deformation
and association with peat beds (submerged vegetation) facilitate distinguishing a tsunami deposition12,13. Far from
the influences of near-source tectonism, distinguishing suspected tsunami deposits is not easy; an outstanding issue
being how to distinguish tsunami deposits from storm or
flood deposits.
Storm deposits are most often interbedded and expected
to be laminated (coarse-grained to fine-grained sand), exhibiting delta foreset stratification and sub-horizontal planar
stratification14. In contrast, the tsunami inundation, characterized by pulses of surges (turbulent phases), still
stands (slow deposition) and backwash (reworking) is
ideally represented by indications or a mixture of initial
massive deposits with flow structures, superceded by quieter
deposition (finer materials, mud drapes, etc.) that show up
as interbedded finer material and silty layers either with
or without lamination. There may be more than one to
three subunits of massive to fining upward sequences (for
a discussion on 2004 tsunami deposits on the east coast of
India, see Rajamanickam, 2006 and the papers therein)15.
The completeness of such sequences is more evident
closer to the source; characteristics of tsunami deposits
far away from source are not well documented and the
2004 tsunami may offer an opportunity to study the same.
However, absence of any or all of the characteristics
should not constitute an argument to disregard a deposit
as not being tsunamigenic if there is other overwhelming
evidence. As described earlier, the Saluvankuppam sections
do not exhibit the entire sequential development of tsunami
deposition, and they could represent a part of such a sedimentation process.
To summarize, at Saluvankuppam trenches, we observed
two fining upward marker sequences (with definitive
ages) with flow structures, embedded clasts and brickbats
concentrated at the lower levels, which suggest flow dynamics that may be comparable to tsunami-induced sedimentation (mostly backwash). The spatially restrictive
nature of these deposits (other trenches in the region did
not reveal these sequences) indicates that they are not a
normal part of near-shore sedimentation. Preservation of
these deposits at Saluvankuppam is itself a surprise considering the erosive nature of the environment. As shown
1246

by the 2004 tsunami, the waves instead of depositing the

sand actually scoured the area, leaving circular depressions along the berm, now filled with tidal water (in some
cases this activity revealed the temple foundations). The
reason for sediment preservation at Saluvankuppam we
think, is the presence of a rock outcrop in the vicinity,
which provided a trap at its seaward side; the onward
rushing eddying currents may have scoured the seaward
side of the rock outcrop producing a general depression
for the backwash to settle. Evidence of graded settling
supports our assumption that the tsunami-related sediments were deposited possibly during the retreat of water
(backwash deposits). Preliminary observations on the
foraminiferal and diatom assemblages within the anomalous deposits (S1 and S2 layers) from these trenches
indicate contributions from the deeper levels of the
ocean. As mentioned earlier, this is an important point
that tentatively points out that these layers are related to
deeply churning long-period tsunami waves.
It is important to understand the spatial and temporal
context of the deposits in question and whether there are
correlative deposits elsewhere (the Indian Ocean tsunami
affected a number of littoral countries). Mamallapuram
sections are sited along the beach and such an environment
generally is not conducive to preserving all the stratigraphic markers with their purity. Our preliminary data
imply the possibility of at least two events of large
coastal flooding at this site: one event around AD 950 and
the other between AD 320 and 560. The present communicatin is only a preliminary attempt at a local scale, where
the suspected tsunami deposits are preserved fortuitously,
and more detailed regional studies at other sites in the
east coast are to follow. Our ongoing work in the Andaman
Nicocbar region (near-source) indicates a tsunami occurrence along submergence of vegetation around 1000 years
ago16, which agrees with the date of the suspected penultimate
tsunami event inferred at Mamallapuram. Further, analyses
of the pre- and post-seismic GPS data from the Andaman
Nicobar region indicate 7001000 years of recurrence for
the giant tsunamigenic earthquakes at the 2004 source17.
Expanding the search for anomalous sand layers to other
areas along the east coast, particularly closer to ancient
cultural settlements should be a major component of future
work. Such work would help to constrain ages of suspected
tsunami sand sheets and also to characterize them in
terms of flow hydraulics, sedimentology, mineralogy and
lithology, so as to discriminate them from other types of
coastal sedimentation, including storms or flood deposits.
The December 26 event provides a unique template for
future studies. Companion studies are also needed to identify
palaeoseismic evidence in Aceh (Sumatra) and the Andaman
Nicobar Islands to constrain the causative earthquakes.
1. Keay, J., India: A History, Harper Perennial, London, 2000, p.
576.
2. Chadha, R. K., Latha, G., Yeh, H., Peterson, C. and Katada, T.,
The tsunami of the great Sumatra earthquake of M 9.0 on 26 DecemCURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 91, NO. 9, 10 NOVEMBER 2006

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Mavalipuram, a place of a few miles north of Madras and known
to seamen by the name of seven pagodas. Asiat. Res., 1788, I,
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Raman, K. V., Cultural heritage of Tamils. In Historical Heritage
of Tamils (eds Subramaniam, S. V. and Veersamy, S.), International Institute for Tamil Studies. Chennai, 1998, pp. 187199.
Sundaresh, Gaur, A. S., Tripati, S. and Vora, K. H., Underwater
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Ramaiyan, M., Krishna Prasad, E. and Suresh, P. K., Shoreline oscillation of Tamil Nadu coast. In Proc. Second Indian National Conference of Harbour and Ocean Engineering, Trivandrum, 1997, pp.
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Dawson, A. G. and Shi, S., Tsunami deposits. Pure Appl. Geophys., 2000, 157, 875897.
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on the northwest coast of Aceh, Indonesia. Earth Planets Space,
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Nagendra, R., Kamla Kannan, B. V., Sajith, C., Gargi, S., Reddy,
A. N. and Srinivasulu, S., A record of foraminiferal assemblage in
tsunami sediments along the Nagappattinam Coast, Tamil Nadu.
Curr. Sci., 2005, 89, 19471952.
Mascarenhas, A., Oceanographic validity of buffer zones for the
east coast of India: A hydrometeorological perspective. Curr. Sci.,
2004, 86, 399406.
Atwater, B. F., Evidence for great Holocene earthquakes along the
outer coast of Washington State. Science, 1987, 236, 942944.
Cisternas, M. et al., Predecessors of the 1960 giant Chile earthquake. Nature, 2005, 437, 404407.
Tuttle, M., Ruffman, A. Y., Anderson, Y. and Jeter, H., Distinguishing tsunami from storm deposits in eastern North America:
The 1924 Grand Banks tsunami versus the 1991 Halloween storm.
Seismol. Res. Lett., 2004, 75, 117131.
Rajamanickam, G. V. (ed.), 26 December 2004 Tsunami: Causes,
Effects, Remedial Measures and Post Tsunami Disaster Management A Geoscientific Perspective, New Academic Publishers,
2006, p. 236.
Rajendran, C. P., Rajendran, K., Anu, R., Earnest, A., Machado,
T., Mohan, P. M. and Freymueller, J., Crustal deformation and
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Soc. Am., 97 (1A), doi: 10.1785/0120050630.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank the Archaeological Survey of

India; Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi and Centre
for Earth Science Studies, Trivandrum for the financial support. Rafter
Radiocarbon Lab, New Zealand provided the AMS dates. D. Raju and
Anil Earnest helped in field investigations. We thank Brian Atwater
and A. S. Gaur and an anonymous reviewer for their comments and
suggestions.
Received 20 January 2006; revised accepted 2 May 2006
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 91, NO. 9, 10 NOVEMBER 2006

Characterization of clay minerals in

the Brahmaputra river sediments,
Assam, India
P. Kotoky1,*, D. Bezbaruah1, J. Baruah1,
G. C. Borah1 and J. N. Sarma2
1

Geoscience Division, Regional Research Laboratory,

Jorhat 785 006, India
2
Department of Applied Geology, Dibrugarh University,
Dibrugarh 786 004, India

Characterization of clay minerals of the Brahmaputra

river sediments within a selected stretch by X-Ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis and Fourier
transform infrared spectra has revealed the association
of dominant kaolinite with subordinate amount of illite
and chlorite. The mineral assemblage, as evidenced
from the study, may find its use towards effective understanding of related engineering properties and
utilization in flood-management approaches, intimately
connected with the lives and properties of the people
of Assam.
Keywords: Brahmaputra river, clay minerals, flood
management, sediments.
THE braided mighty Brahmaputra river that, occupies
one-tenth of the Brahmaputra Valley represents a highenergy fluvial environment, characterized by steep valley
gradients, non-cohesive banks and, consequently, high
rate of bank erosion and bed load transport13. Despite gigantic efforts and colossal expenditure (>Rs 15,000 million)4,
the Brahmaputra continues to wreck havoc due to uncontrollable floods since time immemorial, putting in peril
the lives and properties of the millions of people5.
The recent study on its erosion activity2,3 has established that the activity is not uniform throughout the
stretch, with the bank, where Older Alluvium sediments
and banks composed of higher clay contents are exposed,
offering significant resistance to the erosive power of the
river. It is therefore essential to understand the clay mineral
component of the associated sediments of the river basin,
as it has an intimate relationship with the engineering
properties of the bank sediments in question, which, in
turn, are related with the extent and nature of erosion
mechanisms involved. It is expected that the present
study will open up an avenue to understand and establish
measures to be adopted towards flood-management approaches.
Forty-five bed sediment samples each about 2 kg were
collected along a stretch (within 93309430E long.
and 26302715N lat.) of the Brahmaputra river channel
(Figure 1), which covers the worlds largest river island
Majuli under extreme threat of erosion1,6,7 and the world
*For correspondence. (e-mail: probhatk@yahoo.com)
1247